The Tisdale Trojans advanced to the Telus Cup Semifinals. (Twitter/@HC_TELUSCup)

By Aaron Schulze

Trojans to Telus Cup Semi's

Trojans advance to Telus Cup semifinals

Apr 26, 2019 | 5:01 PM

It may not have been the most exciting way to clinch their spot, but the Tisdale Trojans will live to play another day in the Telus Cup semifinals.

The Trojans fell to the Toronto Young Nationals 4-2 in their final game of Telus Cup round robin play.

Early on, it appeared the Trojans were in control. Trenton Curtis put back the rebound to give Tisdale an early 1-0 lead in the first period after some nice stick work and a shot by Kalen Ukrainetz.

Even when the Young Nats tied the game moments later when Peter Stojcevski put home the rebound on a sharp angle shot, the Trojans still had a 10-3 lead in shots on goal.

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Then, a bizarre goal where Young Nats’ defenceman Nick Enero’s wrist shot from the point deflected into the air and over goaltender Tanner Martin’s head and in for a 2-1 Toronto lead.

Darrell Mann, Trojans head coach, admitted the bizarre goal was deflating for his team.

“To give up that second one kind of threw us back a little bit,” Mann told northeastNOW. “But we were able to get out of the period only down 2-1, get back into the dressing room, and get ourselves regrouped.”

The second period is where things began to get more bizarre.

After what appeared to be missed slashing and tripping calls as Trojans defenceman Landon Kosior attempted to exit the zone, the Young Nats executed a tic-tac-toe goal early in the second period for a 3-1.

However, Jayden Wiens sparked a potential comeback with a shorthanded breakaway goal to make it 3-2.

Unfortunately for the Trojans, a boarding penalty on Davis Chorney put them shorthanded late in the second, and Stojcevski scored his second of the game on a half line change to make it 4-2.

The Trojans battled hard, outshot the Young Nats 20-7 in the third period, but couldn’t get the win or tie to secure their semifinals spot.

“We’re just not getting any puck luck right now,” Mann said. “We’re having troubles getting the puck past the goalie and it seems like all the breaks are going the other direction. We had our goalie out for three minutes at the end of the period and had another couple of really good looks, but their goalie made some big and timely saves, and that’s what happens when you come to a tournament like this. You’re going to be playing some top-end goaltender and you’re going to have to find ways to score goals.”

How did the Trojans advance to the semi-finals?

As of publication, the Telus Cup standings on Day Five are:

1. Magog Cantonniers (Quebec) 4-0-0 8 points +12 GD
2. Toronto Young Nationals (Central) 3-2-0 +1 GD
3. Calgary Buffaloes (Pacific) 3-2-0 4 points +5 GD
4. Tisdale Trojans (West) 2-3-0 4 points -6 GD
5. Halifax Macs (Atlantic) 1-3-1 3 points -6 GD
6. Thunder Bay Kings (Host) 0-3-1 1 point -6 GD

Only the top four teams advance to the semifinals. With the first tie breaker between two teams in the round robin stage being head-to-head matchups, the Trojans would have won the tie breaker with the Halifax Macs after a 2-0 win on April 24, but not the Calgary Buffaloes who beat them on April 25.

With the Calgary Buffaloes defeating the Halifax Macs 5-2 on Day Five, the Trojans finished with more points than the Macs, secured the fourth seed, and will face the first place Magog Cantonniers in the semifinals.

Despite the 6-0 loss to the Magog Cantonniers on Day One, and the two straight losses going into the semifinals, Mann is feeling optimistic with his group.

“We played pretty good in the middle games here,” he said. “Magog is one more team we’d like to have a shot at. We understand that we weren’t very good that night and didn’t give them our best effort. We obviously would love one more shot at them and show them what Tisdale Trojans hockey is all about.

“We think they’ll come into that game feeling pretty confident going through the round robin, and we have nothing to lose. The pressure would be on Magog and we’d just have to see if we can roll with it and go from there.”

The Magog Cantonniers fell to the Notre Dame Hounds 5-1 in the Telus Cup Final in 2018 and are the more immediately experienced of the two teams, but history may be on the Trojans’ side.

Seven out of the last 10 first seeds in the Telus Cup were bounced in the semifinals, and the 2019 Trojans’ path is eerily similar to their Air Canada Cup win in 2002.

The Trojans fell to the Quebec Regional champion Collège Charles-Lemoyne Riverains 5-1 in the opening game of the 2002 Air Canada Cup, before defeating them in the semifinals on their way to winning their first national midget hockey championship.

The Trojans will play the Cantonniers in the Telus Cup Semifinals on Saturday, April 27 at noon SCT.

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aaron.schulze@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @SchulzePANow